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Get Informed
Why a task force approach to drug enforcement?
The often-asked
question of, “Why a task force approach to drug enforcement?” is
answered in several ways. Drug use in our communities does exist, just
as do other crimes, whether reported or unreported. Persons, who sell
drugs, do so in a manner regardless of knowing or even caring about the
political jurisdictions they distribute illicit drugs within. They
crossover jurisdictional boundaries to conduct their illegal business
with no regard to whose city or county they are in and only in pursuit
of making a drug sale.
The concept of Law enforcement Task Forces was developed many years ago
to combine the resources from several impacted agencies to collectively
address a wide spread crime problems including illegal drug
distribution. By combining the resources from several different
agencies, including state and federal agencies, it was found that the
number of personnel could often times be reduced in some agencies. This
savings allowed resources to be reallocated to other needs and/or
resulted in fiscal savings.
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About Drug
Dealers
Drug dealers prize
their drugs above anything else. Money is next on the list for their
prized possessions. After those two, their freedom is important. Drug
dealers need to be free in order to “enjoy” their drugs and money.
Dealers are often times users of illegal drugs, but certainly not all
users are dealers, but the users support the dealers and vice versa.
Dealers are always at risk of losing one of their prized possessions at
any time. Many dealers have weapons to protect themselves from being
“ripped-off” (robbed) by other dealers or, in the case of being arrested,
from law enforcement. Regardless how this is looked at, it’s a formula
for disaster. Some tragedy follows every drug dealer just waiting to
happen. Either a user gets addicted, overdoses, or is robbed or a dealer
gets robbed for drugs or money in their possession. Even worse, an
unwitting law enforcement officer could be hurt or killed or even worse,
an innocent bystander find themselves in the way of a violent encounter
between drug dealer and their adversaries.
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Grant Funding
The other agencies that participate in the Boulder County Drug Task
Force have done so with the assistance of a federal grant awarded
through the State of Colorado Division of Criminal Justice. This grant
funding has effectively paid for replacement officers to substitute for
the detective that each agency assigned to the Task Force. The grant is
a reducing amount type of grant meaning that as time goes by, the
contributing agencies are required to subsidize their replacement
officer incrementally until they are fully funded locally. This process
normally takes five to six years and the Task Force becomes less
dependent on grant funding as a result.
Grant funding also provides for operating expenses such as office space,
utilities, telephones, equipment like computers and surveillance gear,
etc. It has also provided for a fully equipped
Methamphetamine/Clandestine Lab Response trailer. The Task Force has
obtained and stocks the required safety, i.e., S.C.B.A.’s
(Self-contained breathing apparatus), chemical/biological protection
suits, and crime scene processing equipment to conduct extensive
investigations of illegal drug labs throughout Boulder County.
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